


His Second Favorite Food

by MorningPanda



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Jack Kline & Sam Winchester Friendship, Post 13x02, Season/Series 13, root beer floats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-19 00:40:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15498447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorningPanda/pseuds/MorningPanda
Summary: Sam, wanting to do something nice for Jack, has them make a pit stop at the local diner after a grocery run. Sam gets to teach Jack about some human things and Jack gets a new favorite food.Set in between 13x02 and 13x03.





	His Second Favorite Food

It had been a long day and Sam was tired. Tired of his grief, tired of driving, and most of all tired of Dean’s bullshit. He’d left the bunker earlier that day on a grocery run because he couldn’t stand Dean’s behavior. Jack would start to say something, and Dean would interrupt, unnecessarily hostile. Sam tried to understand where Dean was coming from, what with Cas and Mom gone, and that strange man that lured Jack into opening that pit. Sam shook his head, trying to think about all that right now wouldn’t do him, or Jack, any good. He looked over to where Jack was sitting in the passenger seat. Dean of course wouldn’t let Sam take the Impala and they’d left Cas’s truck in Washington, so they were in one of the old cars from the garage. Jack turned to meet Sam’s gaze and gave him a little smile. Sam smiled back. Moments like this were bittersweet because Sam could see so much of Cas in Jack, that it made his heart feel light. Then, the moment’s lost when he remembered Cas is gone. But seeing Jacks smile inspired Sam. He never got to do this for Cas, but he could do it for Jack. 

A few minutes later Sam pulled in front of the local diner in Lebanon. He wasn’t here as often as Dean; he doesn’t go into town much, but he’s ordered a few burgers to go when nights were slow at the bunker and Dean didn’t want to cook. This of course, would be Jack’s first time. Sam got out of the car and Jack followed. Jack looked to the back seat of the car, filled with groceries.  
“What about--?” Jack started before Sam cut him off.  
“It’ll be fine, Jack, we’ll only be here for a little bit anyway.” Jack paused again before deciding to follow Sam into the diner.  
“What are we doing here? Won’t Dean get mad if we’re not back with the groceries in time?” 

Sam sighed. Jack was constantly worried about what Dean thought, and Dean’s anger didn’t help Jack’s mental state. Sam had to constantly be a voice of reassurance for the boy.  
“It’ll be fine Jack; besides we’ll bring him home a burger, he can’t be too mad at that.” Sam winked conspiratorially. Jack gave a small smile in return, he was getting more comfortable around Sam and that was good. 

The waitress led them to a booth and handed them both menu’s. Jack looked down at his menu in excitement, he’d had diner food before, at the motel with Dean and Sam on the ride to the bunker, but he’d never been in a diner before. He returned his gaze to Sam, looking for direction.  
“What are we getting? Burgers are good.”  
Sam nodded. “Burgers are good, but we’re gonna get those to go.”  
Jack was confused. “Then why are we sitting in the booth?”  
Sam waved the waitress over at this point. She got to the booth, pad in hand. “What can I get you boys?”  
“Two bacon cheeseburgers with regular cut fries, a turkey burger with a side salad, all to go, and then two root beer floats for here please.” Sam replied and gave the waitress a winning smile. He handed his and Jack’s menus over.  
Jack leaned across the table toward Sam. “What is a root beer float? Does the beer magically float? Is it the root, that makes it magical?”  
Sam raised his hand to stop Jack from continuing. “No magic, you’ll just see when it gets here.”  
Jack politely folded his hands and leaned back to wait, and not for the first time Sam wondered if Jack’s pre-birth bonding with Castiel imparted more than just thoughts. Everyday Jack would exhibit behavior more like Cas than Lucifer and it made Sam feel stronger in his conviction to protect Jack, even if he would have to protect Jack from Dean.  
The root beer floats came quickly, and Jack inspected his with toddler like curiosity. Sam unwrapped a straw and put it in the mug.  
“So, it’s a drink?” Jack tilted his head to the side, never had he resembled his father, Castiel, more.  
Sam chuckled at Jack’s question. “Sort of. It’s root beer, with vanilla ice cream.” Sam pushes a spoon toward Jack. “The spoon is for the ice cream; the straw is for the root beer.”  
Jack nodded as though he understood, Sam had a feeling he didn’t but started to drink his float anyway. Jack observed Sam for a moment. Sam didn’t spoon out the ice cream but rather mashed it, so it became one with to root beer, and all could go through the straw. Jack gazed down at his own float and decided to copy Sam’s motions. It made more sense to make the float easier to consume. When Jack was satisfied with his ice cream mashing, he took a sip from the straw. His eyes widened as soon as the concoction touched his tongue. He drank some more. Jack then grinned wildly at Sam.  
“This is incredible. I knew that mixing food together could make things taste good, like burgers, but this is amazing!” Jack drinks more. Sam smiled, glad to have cheered Jack up. Although if Jack’s taste in food kept up, he’d need to keep an eye out for Jack’s sweet tooth. The kid had a taste for candy that Sam hadn’t seen since Gabriel, way back when. The sound of a straw sucking air broke Sam out of his thoughts. Jack was done with his float.  
“Can I have another one?”  
Sam chuckled again. “Maybe later. The burgers are here.” At that moment the waitress arrived with a bag. Sam stood and took it from her handing her some cash. “Keep the change.” Jack got up too to follow Sam out of the diner but stopped and turned to the waitress before exiting.  
“Thank you, for the root beer float, it was delicious.” The waitress awkwardly smiled at Jacks intensity before heading to the register. Sam waited outside the door for Jack.  
“What did you say to her?” Sam asked while opening the car door. Jack followed suit with the passenger side door.  
“I thanked her for the root beer float. I think it is my second favorite food now.”  
Sam furrowed his brows a little at this “What’s the first?”  
“Nougat.” Jack simply replied before climbing into the car. Sam full on laughed this time. No doubt about it, Jack definitely had a sweet tooth. He got in the car and drove them back to the bunker, feeling for the first time that day that things were looking up.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Also posted on my tumblr.


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